Journal of Forensic Biomechanics

Applications and the Evolution of Forensic Epidemiology

Cheng Yin^* Department of Forensic Pathology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
^*Correspondence: Cheng Yin, Department of Forensic Pathology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, Email:

Received: 02-Mar-2023, Manuscript No. JFB-23-20504; Editor assigned: 06-Mar-2023, Pre QC No. JFB-23-20504 (PQ); Reviewed: 20-Mar-2023, QC No. JFB-23-20504; Revised: 27-Mar-2023, Manuscript No. JFB-23-20504 (R); Published: 03-Apr-2023, DOI: 10.35248/2090-2697.23.14.425

Description

The field of forensic epidemiology combines ideas and methods from both epidemiology and forensic medicine. For the purpose of establishing causality in civil lawsuits as well as in the prosecution and defence of criminal charges, forensic examiner (FE) aims to bridge the gap between clinical judgement and epidemiologic data. To determine the kind and extent of a causal relationship between an earlier harmful exposure and a subsequent injury or disease outcome in both populations and individuals, forensic epidemiologists form evidence-based probabilistic conclusions. The findings of a FE analysis can be used as evidence to support findings of causal association in civil cases as well as legal determinations of guilt or innocence in criminal cases. Toxic or mass tort cases, pharmaceutical adverse events, medical device and consumer product failures, traffic crash-related injury and death, person identification, and life expectancy cases are just a few of the civil litigation scenarios in which forensic epidemiologic principles are applied. Dr. Ken Alibek, the former head of the Soviet Union's bioweapons programme, first used the term "forensic epidemiology" in relation to the investigation of bioterrorism in 1999. At that time, the investigation of potential man-made epidemics was the sole focus of FE. The CDC defined forensic epidemiology as a method of looking into potential acts of bioterrorism following the US anthrax attacks in 2001.

The systematic application of epidemiology to contentious causation issues decided in civil and criminal courts are how FE is currently more commonly known and defined. Since the investigation into the purported connection between exposure to the swine flu vaccine in 1976 and subsequent cases of Guillain- Barre syndrome, epidemiologic data and analysis have been used as a basis for assessing general causation in USA courts, particularly in toxic tort cases. More recently, FE has also been referred to as an evidence-based technique for calculating the likelihood of a particular cause in an individual. When a clinical differential diagnosis approach to causation is contested, the method is especially useful.

Forensic epidemiology applications

Criminal prosecution to the strong correlation between diagnostic findings connected to intentional injury and the cause of the findings, causality in criminal cases is frequently clear-cut. Exposure to environmental toxins Investigation of injury or disease linked to toxic exposure typically requires epidemiological study evidence of general causation and appropriate application of the Hill criteria for the plausibility of the association.

Injury lawsuits The cause of mechanical trauma injuries, which most frequently result from car accidents and slips and falls, is rarely disputed outside of court proceedings. However, when such injuries are assessed in a medico legal setting, speculative opinions about risk and the likelihood of causation are fairly typical. Claims of medical negligence is a crucial aspect of medical malpractice litigation is proving the causal connection between a purported act of medical negligence and a negative outcome. As a counterfactual determination of causality, the base risk of the injury is frequently the focus of an FE analysis of a medical malpractice claim. In other words, if the base risk of the outcome without the negligent act is quite small, then the outcome that is plausibly caused by the alleged act of negligence is more likely to have been the result of the negligent act.

A case study the following two case studies serve as examples of how the techniques mentioned in this report can be used in real-world situations. In the first case study, FE methods are applied to a set of facts related to an alleged act of medical negligence, and in the second case study, the investigation into an alleged homicide is discussed.